Barings Bank, which had survived the Napoleonic Wars and financed the Louisiana Purchase, was declared insolvent and sold to the Dutch bank ING for the symbolic price of . The Aftermath
Then, the unthinkable happened: the struck Kobe. The Japanese markets plummeted, and Leeson’s positions turned into a black hole. He tried to "trade his way out" by buying more, but the hole only deepened. The Collapse Rogue Trader (1999)
In the early '90s, Barings Bank—the oldest merchant bank in London—sent their rising star, Nick Leeson, to Singapore. His job was to head the futures floor at SIMEX. He was charismatic, aggressive, and quickly became the bank’s golden boy, reportedly accounting for 10% of Barings' total profits at one point. The "Error Account" Barings Bank, which had survived the Napoleonic Wars